5.09.2014

Molly's Health Update

Recently, our vet discovered signs of more tumors in sweet little Molly's ovaries. The only real way to "cure" her and make sure the tumors never return is to have her spayed. For cats and dogs, it's a routine surgery but for guinea pigs it's much more serious. Their little bodies don't always handle the anesthesia well and many of them lose their appetite following surgery and pass away due to malnutrition. After her last health emergency, the vet recommended we take the wait-and-see approach regarding any further treatment because of the risk posed by surgery. For a while, things looked great, until Molly started losing patches of fur. At first, we thought the hair loss was due to mites or a skin irritation so the vet gave her a little ointment and sent us on our way. We waited and waited for her hair to grow back but instead, the hair loss got worse. She soon developed two symmetrical patches of hair loss on both sides of her abdomen - a clear sign of a hormonal imbalance due to more ovarian cysts.

Molly (right) has a bald patch over her hind leg (the lighter patch) due to hormonal hair loss. There's an identical, symmetrical patch on the other side, too.

The vet confirmed the presence of more cysts at a recent appointment. If we do not remove the cysts they'll just continue to grow, causing Molly pain and discomfort along with potentially fatal damage to her intestines and digestive system from the pressure and weight of the cysts. The risks of doing nothing are far more serious -and much more likely to occur- than the risk of surgery. Molly is at the vet now for the surgery, and will remain there for the rest of the day so they can observe her progress post-op. We'll be bringing her home later this evening and keeping our fingers crossed that her appetite returns quickly. She happily munched on some blueberries and kale after her surgery last July, which is definitely a good sign of how she'll handle recovery now, but the surgery this time around is much more serious and invasive. Please keep little Molly in your thoughts over the next few days. She's a tough and determined little cookie and I feel pretty confident she'll pull through and be stronger than ever, but it's nice knowing there's some happy, positive energy coming her way.